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Review by mwagner1962 August 5, 2005 (9 of 10 found this review helpful)
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Performance:  Sonics:  |
I usually do not make references to other reviews, but sadly, DSD has brought the same catty comments from another terrible audio site to this quality site. Funny, no comments were made about the music. Sadly, DSD does not even bother to list what gear was used to audition this SACD.
I will counter by saying that this recording has plenty of bass, midrange, spacing, imaging. This is NOT a cold nor dry recording, and the sound ranks up there with the Shostakovich 7th and Mahler 5 that WaterLily did in the same hall. Of course, since it is a live recording, coughing is as serious a problem on this recording as on the other two WaterLily SACDs.
The performance of the Skryabin is top notch. The only other recording I had (sadly, it got scratched) was a Chandos with Jarvi and Chicago. I have played this piece and am well familiar with the trumpet solos as well as the piece as a whole. The trumpet soloist is quite fine here. There is plenty of nice string sound, and I have no problems with bass (on my meager system NOR on the massive systems I have as alternatives to listen with). There is plenty of emotion, and Maestro Dmitriev gets some fine playing from his forces. Special nods to the woodwinds.
The Skryabin is simply top notch, both in sound and in performance.
I cannot comment of the Svetlanov Piano Concerto, as I was not even aware that Yevgeny Svetlanov was a composer. However, the piece is enjoyable though not overwhelmingly convincing. Mr. Ovchinnikov's piano playing is superb, as it should be for a previous Tchaikovsky Piano Competition winner. Not being a piano player, all I can say is that the soloist displays a high level of virtuosity that makes for a convincing performance. I would rather hear the same pianist perform a concerto by, say, Rachmaninoff or Tchaikovsky to at least have another recording to compare performances.
Anyone who actually reads the booklet will understand the problems encountered by Kavi Alexander. There were no extra sessions, no sound checks, nothing...it was show up, set up the Mic's, and roll the tape. To DSD, if you want to hear a truly terrible SACD, listen to the EBS Mahler 5, with the Wurttemburgische Phil under Iimori. Then you tell me if the this WaterLily is still "the most terrible SACD made".....
Cheers.
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Review by regtas43 August 5, 2005 (7 of 10 found this review helpful)
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Performance: Sonics: |
The review by DSD is entirely off the mark in my opinion. (I worked on the surround sound on the other two recent Waterlily orchestral recordings and have heard all three of the recordings not only on many private audiophile systems, including my own calibrated reference monitoring system, but also on the ultra-high-quality monitoring facility at the DSD mastering facility in Colorado, which far exceeds in accuracy almost anything a consumer is likely to have. I know what these recordings actually sound like!).
I am not sure what the motivation is of this Teresa person for posting the same (verbatim) negative comments on several different web sites, but I do urge you to ignore these remarks , which are totally incorrect in my view and in the opinions of many other listeners, both consumers and professionals.
If you want to see more accurate reviews from consumers, try MWagner on this site, who makes a far far more accurate assessment in my view. And if you would like to see some professional reviews, please go to my website www.regonaudio.com and click on the links(on the front page) to John Sunier's Audiophile Audition and to the review in Postive Feedback.
Thanks ,Robert E. Greene(of The Absolute Sound)
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Review by Jonalogic August 13, 2010 (5 of 6 found this review helpful)
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Performance:  Sonics: |
Wow, there seems to be a real debate about this one, so I thought I'd add my tu'pence worth.
On my (very) high-end Esoteric/Goldmund/Martin Logan stereo setup, this is a remarkably transparent, lucid and realistic recording. It's actually far more dimensional, tonally even and comfortable to listen to the Water Lily Shostakovich 7.
Minimalist two-mike recordings like this , if done well, can offer unsurpassed coherence and truthfulness. However, if you:
1) Are not used to the absolute sound of a real orchestra playing in a real auditorium;
2) Are conditioned to the multi-miked, spot-lit phase-incoherent sound of pop productions
3) Have cloth ears or duff equipment...
Then you might just not get it.
However, let us not deny that the music here is distinctly underwhelming, as are the rather sluggish performances by Petersburg's 2nd-division radio band.
I hope for more from Water Lily's Mahler 5, with the REAL Premier-league Petersburg orchestra and recognised conductor, playing great music. This now seems to be back in availability after a period when it disappeared from view. More on this, anon.
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